JazzTeddyDiary

Diary of Jazz and Teddy's Litter

Jazz's "before" pose (photo taken late Aug '09)

Jazz at 6 wks post ovulation (11/9/09)

And at 7 wks (11/16)

Back to Nursery

Sept 28, 2009: Finally Jazz has ovulated--- this is Day 17 of her cycle!!! A semen shipment is on the way for her first breeding which will be in 2 days.

Sept 30: First breeding by chilled artificial insemination (AI) was done (+2 days from ovulation).

Oct 2: 2nd breeding by AI was done (+4 days from ovulation).

Nov 12 (6.5 wks post ovulation): First kicks seen/felt. Jazz is starting to milk the system for more tummy rubs, etc.

Nov 19 (7.5 wks post ovulation): The whelping box is up. Jazz was all wags-- as if I'd forget???! ~10 days to go!

Nov 22 (almost 8 wks): Jazz is doing great, still plugging along on our walks though swimming is now off limits!

Nov 28 (day 61): We have a temperature drop! Jazz went from a bit over 100F last night to 98.9F this morning, 98.7F by 2pm. What a way to have to spend her 6th birthday--- in labor--- but hopefully she will have some room for apple cake later today with her sister Fuji and the others. :)

Nov 29 (day 62): After a long, pretty much sleepless night (and yes, some turkey and apple cake), the puppies started to arrive at 4pm. The whole process took 10 hours total, with 10 puppies total, though 2 were too tiny to make it. The 8 survivors are doing great so far, eating nearly constantly (since Jazz won't leave them!) and vocalizing when they think they should be eating again.

One of the hardest parts of a litter here is dog management during and after the whelp, as all of my "big dogs" think they need to be involved in raising the babies. Yesterday they spent much of the day out in the kennel or in their crates as the house was off limits during whelp. They were very excited to get to see the puppies this morning, and in fact, Mata already breached security (an expen surrounding the whelping box area). I found her laying IN the box with one of the chocolate babies snuggled up next to her this morning. The others were all nursing on their perplexed mom. Poor Jazz really isn't ready to share just YET!!! I'll be adding more photos, but here's one of the bunch taken very early this morning (left photo below). Final tally is 4 Black Males, 1 Choc Male, 1 Black Female, & 2 Choc Females.

Dec. 1: Everyone continues to nurse well and are getting stronger and fuller looking by the hour. Jazz is still catching up on her sleep, but is getting more and more relaxed with the others trying to "help". This morning, both Mata and Sonya barged in and cleaned some bottoms, and she really didn't seem too bothered about it! I started to weigh pups last night and will continue to do so nightly to make sure everyone continues to gain well. I am also monitoring Jazz's temperature twice daily to make sure she has no infections brewing (mastitis,etc).

Dec. 2: Today the pups took their first car ride to the vet clinic where they had their dew claws removed at not quite 3 days old. Everyone did great. Jazz was happy to get them back home in the box where they took right up where they left off nursing. About then, Aunt Mata barged in and helped clean bottoms again... Poor Jazz gets no respect, lol.

Dec. 3: I started the Early Neurological Stimulation program (aka Super Puppy) today. All of the puppies did quite well. I'll be doing this program daily through day 16.

Dec. 6: The pups are 1 week old today! All continue to gain weight nicely and should be doubled in weight within a couple days. As you can see below, this is one clean bunch of pups with Auntie Mata and others insisting on helping Jazz out. Good thing I have an extra big whelping box!

Dec. 10: Pups are 11 days old and eyes are just about to open. The little legs are working a bit better now too!

Dec. 13: Several pups opened their eyes today (day 14). And look what they saw... their very own Charlie Brown Christmas tree! ha ha... The pups sure are getting cute.

Dec. 18: The puppies are a bit over 2.5 weeks old now, and several have tripled in weight. Weights range from 2.0 to 3.0 lbs now, and weight gain has been quite steady. Eyes are all open now and apparently ears really cleared out this week too --- there will be no more sneaking up on them! Now that they have a few more senses, I can start potty training to paper at one end of the box. That will be my project for the next few days. I am really happy that I've had no loose stools to deal with (yet!). :)

Dec. 21: Three weeks old! The worry part of the equation is pretty much behind us, but my work has really begun. Potty training is in progress--- so far, so good. My hope is to have everyone pretty reliable in that department before we move the family to the pen in the garage. I also started the pups on a meal of runny gruel the other night (which you can see they liked!), and will move to 2 meals a day now to take some of the burden off of Jazz, who may not be too thrilled in a week or so once those needle teeth poke through! Tooth buds are definitely prominent so it won't be long.

Dec. 24: Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!!!

Dec. 28: Four weeks old and full of sharp teeth that are getting used on others (and my toes)! Pups are now weighing on average 4 1/3 lb, and continue to do great. The biggest boy (blue) is well over 5 lbs and smallest (green choc) is just under 4 lbs and catching up to several of the others. Jazz continues to nurse faithfully though I began feeding a 3rd meal yesterday. My work never seems to be done between feeding, cuddling and laundry -- of course my real work (the paying kind!) in between too so my days are pretty exhausting right now. Potty training is going great, so I have a little help there (more time to shovel snow?). I will be setting up the bigger pen in the garage over New Years most likely, if not before. Hopefully it'll warm up a touch outside to make heating the garage a bit easier!

Here are some individual photos taken Monday 12/28/09:

January 1, 2010: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!! The puppies celebrated the day by moving out of the whelping box to their expandable exercise pen set up in the garage. Are they ever enjoying it!

January 9, 2010: Almost 6 wks old! Sorry--- it was a crazy post holiday work week for me so I lapsed on the updates! Everyone is doing great. I'm very pleased w/ the pup's adjustment to the pen. They are sleeping through the night, hitting the "potty pool" with extremely high accuracy (only 2 piddle accidents the whole time!) -- I just couldn't be happier! This week I've been bringing 2 at a time into the family room w/ the big dogs to evaluate how they react to the new surroundings. They've also been introduced to more toys and even bird wings. All have been very confident and playful. It's a very uniform group of puppies temperament wise! Blue boy remains the biggest, Green boy (Peanut, lol) is the smallest but what he lacks for in size, he makes up for in spirit (what a cutie!).

January 16, 2010: The pups will be 7 wks old tomorrow! We had another busy week. Earlier in the week, we all took a short car ride and though it started out rather loud, they were all settled down by the time I finished the 5 mile or so trip. The weather finally warmed enough to melt off some of the ice and snow, allowing the pups to get outside daily for short play sessions and walks w/ the big girls. They are quite the little explorers-- afraid of nothing it seems! They love chasing the quail and duck wings and will get to chase real birds very soon. Tomorrow I hope to get some "stacked" (standing) photos and assess structure (this after I wear them out a bit!). On Tues, we'll be going in for our vet well checks, and on Wednesday, we'll take our big trip to Pasco to the eye doctor for their CERF exams. I must find my ear plugs for that drive...

January 19, 2010: Puppy well checks went very well this morning (other than a serious need to work on their "inside voices"-- they were a bit loud!). All the pups are now microchipped and resting up for more fun tomorrow at their eye exams.

January 20, 2010: The CERF exams all went well! The babies did another number on what was left of my hearing (huh???) and everyone's at the clinic too. They also knocked over a goodly number of the sentinel goose decoys at a friend's place where we stopped for "safe potty", but managed to do the whole trip without ANY potty accidents! Woohoo! The ride home was actually kind of quiet. :)

January 24, 2010: 8 weeks old and starting to leave the nest! The first pups began to leave yesterday. All of the black boys are now in their new homes, as is one of the choc girls (purple). Initial reports have all been positive. It sure is quiet here, but Peanut (choc boy), Black (yellow) girl and Choc (pink) girl seem to be adjusting just fine. Here are some photos taken their last days together.

January 25, 2010: The black girl left today for her new home, so now it's just a couple brown ones here-- Pink Girl and Green Boy. Pink girl will stay here for the time being at least, though I'd entertain a co-ownership with the right home. She's very outgoing and sweet, very birdy, and nicely structured so appears to be a nice competition prospect. Green Boy is likely going to be smaller, but is quite the character! He loves to retrieve, and loves to love just as much... Here he is playing with Mr. Pigeon the other day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSEqCYS2RJ4

January 25, 2010:

January 28, 2010: Peanut has a new family!!! Cammie (as in Cameo) is trying her best to schmooze her way into the household with the big girls.